5 ways to get the most from your data

Data is used by companies for a variety of purposes. It is collected and analysed in different ways depending on the business functions. Data becomes information by interpretation because without data, there is no employee information to process. For marketers, using data is crucial to ensuring the right prospects are being targeted and nurtured in the right way.

1. Getting qualified and reliable data is essential – sometimes paying more for quality/tailored data is better than paying for data that is cheap but useless. Therefore, start by looking at data houses that supply the most suitable data to your company or is recommended by someone who has similar interests or strategies to you.

Researching your own data can also be highly efficient as you are compiling the lists yourself and you know the type of prospects and data you want to target. Although, the best part is that only you have access to it. LinkedIn is also a really successful social tool in helping to create data lists. You can join groups and use advanced searches to find prospects through LinkedIn that you want to target.

2. Data can also cause many complications. Therefore, eliminating problems at the start will mean you can really get the most from your data. Protect and secure your data as digital thieves are constantly on the lookout for data to steal – personal information, financial records, even data you’ve spent hours compiling. It’s vital with your data that you protect everything from their attacks, remember that security is only one half of complete protection. A good idea is to implement a proper backup strategy for your business. If your data is corrupted or lost, how can you recover it? You can only recover it if it’s backed up. Staff also play a really important part in making sure data is protected and kept recovered, therefore inform them of their responsibilities with your data.

3. Before using your data make sure you have run checks to ensure all current clients or customers are removed from the data – you don’t want to pitch to them again. A data cleanse is also really important to ensure your records are up to date. Therefore, when dialling, emailing, or direct mailing you can eliminate errors by not wasting your teams’ time. You want to ensure you really are getting the most from your data, so keeping all details up to date means that a personal touch can be added to your pitches.

4. Using data in the right way can definitely transform your B2B lead generation efforts. With advances from social media and the internet, we now have even more resources to utilise our data. Marketers have also said there is a 12% increase in data arising from social media interaction (emarketer.com). Staying on top of internet activity can help you to creating data lists and monitor the latest trends when compiling your data.

5. Analysing data is the clearest way of knowing what you are going to get out of your data. Breaking your data down (whether it’s looking at demographics, geographics or industries and job titles) will help your data be more ordered and organised. Each company will have their own targeting agenda, think carefully about how you want to analyse your data and how you want to use it.

As you are analysing the data, you may find that trends start to emerge which allow you build accurate pictures of who to target and who are most receptive to you.